I was just reading a BBC article on the South African gold mining industry when I stumbled across a metric I had never heard quoted before:

Much of the easily accessible gold has already been taken out of the ground. That which lies in the deeper reefs is becoming increasingly costly and dangerous to get at.

In addition to this, over the past five years, wages have increased by an average of 12.3% per year, compared with an average inflation rate of 5.9%.

During the same time, gold production fell by 21%. Last year, the average worker produced 1.18kg of gold. In 2007, that figure was 1.49kg.

I thought I would do some math on that figure. It turns out that on average it takes a miner 10 days of hard labour down a super heated hell hole to produce just 1oz of pure gold. 365 / (1.18 x 32.15) = 9.62

Published on Jul 11, 2013In this episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss the puffery behind politics and finance that has spawned a generation unable to see or understand the world around them, a world in which the chief economist of a major bank is warning we are on the eve of a new Peasants' Revolt.

In the second half, Max talks to Professor Yanis Varoufakis about the latest in the Greek bailout saga, the collapsing German export market and what the future holds for Italy.

US Inflation Rate

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